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Samvardhana Motherson Peguform, which produces components and materials to build cars, has announced a €30 million investment in Catalonia, during the business trip of a delegation led by President of the Catalan Government Artur Mas. The Samvardhana Motherson Group, based in Noida, already owns 4 factories in Catalonia, from the former German company Peguform – which was purchased in 2011 by the Indian multinational. €25 million will be invested in rebuilding and enlarging its Polinyà plant, in Greater Barcelona, which produces car paint and was accidentally burned last September. The remaining €5 million will be allocated to upgrading its Ripollet plant, also based near the Catalan capital. In fact, Barcelona is one of the main hubs in Europe in the car industry, with several manufacturing companies building vehicles and components.

The President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, replied that “nobody believes” in the “apocalyptic” message sent by the Governor of the Bank of Spain, who was appointed by the current Spanish Government in 2012. Mas asked Luís María Linde for “caution” and “to serve the whole of Spain and do not take sides”. Linde stated in Madrid that “independence is unviable”. He argued that the European Central Bank only funds Member States and thus Catalonia would be “obliged to issue its own currency” and have “its own banking supervisor”. On the same day, the Spanish Finance Minister, Cristóbal Montoro, said that if Catalonia were independent it would have “to abandon the Euro” and this could even lead to putting the entire Eurozone at risk. However, in September the European Commission confirmed that an independent Catalonia could continue to use the Euro in different scenarios.

Thousands of people – 12,000 according to Barcelona’s local police and 200,000 according to the organisers – demonstrated on Sunday in the streets of Barcelona to protest against the Spanish and Catalan Governments’ austerity measures and “antisocial” budgets. Led by the platform ‘Prou Retallades’ (“Stop Budget Cuts”) , the UGT and CCOO trade-unions, as well as political parties and associations, citizens voiced their disapproval of the new pension reform, working fragility and the latest austerity measures. They also specifically protested against the Catalan and Spanish Governments’ budgets for 2014, which they consider “antisocial”. The demonstration organisers criticised the “blind obedience” of the Catalan and Spanish Executives to the European Commission and the Troika.

According to a poll from the Catalan Centre for Polling (CEO), 54.7% of Catalans would vote “yes” to independence while 22.1% would vote “no” and 15.7% are undecided. The poll shows similar percentages than the other polls issued in the last few months from several different institutions and companies. However, the poll indicates that for the first time, independence is the clear preferred alternative among possible formulas for the relationship between Catalonia and Spain. Independence would be the preferred scenario for 48.5% of Catalans, while those in favour of a federal Spain with Catalonia having greater powers represent 21.3% of the interviewees. Finally, the Catalans that prefer maintaining the current status quo amount to 18.6%.

Experts from academia and Catalan and Andalusian civil society held a debate on the right to self-determination in the University of Seville. This Friday, the Public Diplomacy Council of Catalonia (Diplocat), in cooperation with Seville’s Law Faculty, organised two round tables on the democratic and legal implications of a self-determination vote in Catalonia and the role played by civil society. Diplocat is the Catalan soft diplomacy network supported by the main public institutions, business associations and chambers of commerce. Diplocat’s Secretary General, Albert Royo, pointed out that 80% of Catalans would like to hold a self-determination vote and for this reason the soft diplomacy network organises events such as the one in Seville, in order to involve the Spanish society in the debate. Antonio Merchán, Dean of the Law Faculty, highlighted the importance “to talk” about it.

Speaking to the Economic Affairs Committee of the European Parliament, the European Commissioner for Employment, Lázló Andor, said that Spain should profit from its decentralised organisation to help fight youth unemployment. He suggested that the rest of Spain’s Autonomous Communities should follow the examples of Catalonia and Navarra to improve employment levels among youngsters. The European Commissioner said that Spanish authorities should take note of the plans launched by Catalonia and Navarra, where the youth unemployment situation “is better than the national average”. However, despite these levels being lower than in most of Spain, youth unemployment in Catalonia is worryingly high, at more than 53% in July.

The Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, said on Thursday that he was hoping that “moderation” and “common sense” will finally “prevail in Catalonia”. In the evening, the President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, replied that Rajoy’s statement is “comical and audacious”, because Catalonia has a long tradition of moderation and tolerance. “The first way of being tolerant is making a step towards the other and, historically, Catalonia has always made this step”, Mas stated. However, now Catalan citizens want to decide on their possible independence from Spain and the “moderate” attitude is to talk about how to allow them to democratically vote on the issue, he pointed out. “Moderation cannot be confused with giving up” on a claim shared by a majority of Catalans, added Mas.

The Catalan Chemists’ Professional Association, in charge of distributing the money from partially-subsidised prescribed drugs, has already received €309 million of the €416 million arrears payments due.The Professional Association announced the “immediate distribution” of the money received. Two weeks ago, Catalan chemists went on strike for these arrears, urging the Catalan and Spanish Governments to issue the payments. In theory the Catalan Executive is in charge of paying them, but to do so it needs a previous transfer from the Spanish Government. The necessary transfers from Madrid have been arriving intermittently over the last year and on many occasions with considerable delay. For these reasons, chemists protested on the 7^th November in front of the Spanish Government’s Delegation in Barcelona.

The judge investigating the death of a man a few hours after his arrest in Barcelona by the Catalan Police has decided to indict a 9^th officer related to this case. On the 4^th November, 8 Catalan Police officers were indicted and suspended from active service for physical aggression - which might have caused the arrestee’s death, trying to destroy evidence and consequently obstructing justice. The 9^th officer is indicted for having allegedly cleaned up remains of blood on the street after the victim’s arrest, obstructing the judicial investigation. However, the Catalan Home Affairs Ministry has not suspended this 9^th policeman, as the charges “are not so severe” as for the other 8 officers who actively participated in the arrest, but has decided to transfer him to another police station.

The Spanish Government has finally set a date for the first direct High Speed Train between Barcelona and Paris. Passengers will no longer have to switch trains near the French border and a direct TGV will link Paris and Barcelona from the 15^th of December. The journey will last 6 hours and 20 minutes, since there is no high-speed railway in the 200-kilometre stretch between Perpignan and Nîmes and trains circulate at a regular speed. The High-Speed railway between Nîmes and Montpellier should be operative by 2017, but the French Government announced last June that the construction of the 150 km between Montpellier and Perpignan would be delayed beyond 2030. The Catalan Executive as well as French and Catalan Euro MPs have requested the French Government to reconsider its decision after the EU has included the Mediterranean Railway Corridor among its 9 main transport priorities until 2020.

The Catalan Parliament’s Committee on self determination welcomed two Scottish MPs, Stewart Maxwell (SNP) and Patricia Ferguson (Labour Party) to learn from their experience on the political processes that led to the 2014 Scottish referendum. The Catalan Socialist Party (PSC) is currently divided on the issue of holding a self-determination referendum without Madrid’s previous agreement. The PSC leadership is convinced that any self-determination initiative has to be agreed in advance with the Spanish Government. However, some PSC MPs believe that since Madrid is currently refusing to negotiate, the Catalan people is entitled to put their own legal proposals on the table and ultimately organise the referendum on their own. The PSC asked if a referendum was possible without a political agreement between governments. Ferguson answered she believed Scotland would have gone trough with the referendum, even without a Westminster approval.

The Spanish Finance Minister, Cristóbal Montoro, “regretted” on Tuesday evening the “confusion” about having announced in October he was cancelling a €1.76 billion transfer to the Catalan Government. Without this scheduled payment, the Catalan Executive is having serious problems to fund the 1.58% deficit approved for 2013. “These things can happen” said Montoro. In late October – 10 weeks before the end of the year – the Spanish Minister announced that the Catalan Government would not receive the €1.76 billion requested from the Liquidity Fund for the Autonomous Communities (FLA) since this money would be used by the Service Provider Fund to pay for arrear invoices. A week ago, the Catalan Government confirmed Montoro would transfer the €1.76 billion.

In a clear reference to the President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, the former Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar – who chairs the governing People’s Party (PP) think tank – asked for the approval of a former law sentencing any public figure organising a referendum that has previously been declared illegal to a 5-year incarceration. Aznar, who led the Spanish Government between 1996 and 2004, is a strong supporter of Spanish nationalist stances and has requested PM Mariano Rajoy to take a harder approach regarding Catalonia’s self-determination claims. The PP replied Aznar that currently there are “enough mechanisms” “guaranteeing” that an illegal vote will not take place. The Catalan President criticised Aznar’s “old-fashioned language”.

After years of debate, the new European Union’s Transport Priorities have finally been approved. The European Parliament has approved the Commission’s plan to build 9 major transport corridors connecting the continent from West to East, North to South and in diagonal. The Mediterranean Corridor for freight and passengers is one of these 9 priorities and will link Barcelona and Tarragona to the Gibraltar Straight and Central Europe, connecting major production centres, import/export infrastructures and tourist destinations. The final plan ignores the Spanish Government’s request to include the Centre Pyrenees Corridor as well, a project that was bypassing Catalonia and therefore Barcelona, despite being Spain’s main industrial, export and tourist centre and being geographically attached to France.

The parties supporting Catalonia’s right to self-determination regret the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC)’s decision to step down from giving active support to this political process. Last week the PSC’s leadership decided not to back any initiative in favour of a self-determination vote that has not been agreed in advance with the Spanish Government, which totally rejects the idea and even refuses to talk about it. The President of the Catalan Government and leader of the Centre-Right Catalan Nationalist Coalition (CiU), Artur Mas, asked the PSC “not to get off the train”, stressing the party’s tradition of defending Catalan language, culture, identity and self-government. The Left-Wing Catalan Independence Party (ERC) and the Catalan Green Socialist and Communist Coalition (ICV-EUiA) consider the PSC is now against a self-determination vote.